Document image processing often involves a character recognition process, such as OCR or ICR, that identifies objects in the image as specific characters and/or words. Character recognition processes allow an image to become machine readable. They may also facilitate conversion or encoding of the image to an editable format that may be used in a word processing program. Also, the output for character recognition processes can be used to index and access large repositories of text images according their contents.
Some document images may include a mixture of text arranged horizontally and vertically. Applicant has found that character recognition processes may benefit from knowing where horizontal text starts or ends relative to vertical text, and vice versa. For example, having located a division between horizontal and vertical text, a character recognition process may proceed with a reliable assumption that an entire area contains only vertical text, and need not expend resources to evaluate character or word groupings in a horizontal direction. Thus, speed and accuracy of character recognition can be improved by isolating text orientation during an early stage of image processing. With ever increasing demands for speed and accuracy, there is a need for a method, apparatus, and program that may help satisfy these needs.